Laser brands

[pagroove]

how about to be able to buy lasers from different brands. I'm not opting for even more equipment but more as a choice in which lasers are available. In the Elite manual also different manufacturers are mentioned. So in such a scenario you can have better and not so good beam lasers

[Screet]

how about to be able to buy lasers from different brands. I'm not opting for even more equipment but more as a choice in which lasers are available. In the Elite manual also different manufacturers are mentioned. So in such a scenario you can have better and not so good beam lasers

Like, buying from a salvage gang with the one gunfight warranty?

Screet

[pagroove]

A bit. But mainly differences in the specifications (firing rate, overheating, hit distance, accuracy etc.)

[Thargoid]

You can't do ship weapons (as opposed to missiles and mines) via OXP, sadly.

At least at the moment anyway.

[Screet]

A bit. But mainly differences in the specifications (firing rate, overheating, hit distance, accuracy etc.)

Hmmm. A military laser for blind people which spreads a lot, but does less damage, a laser that overheats 50% faster, but also delivers 50% more energy? Could be fun.

Still I do not see why a laser should lose it's energy over distance

Screet

[Thargoid]

Still I do not see why a laser should lose it's energy over distance

If you can see them, then they're losing energy. What you're seeing is scattered light off things like dust. Hence the light energy you're seeing is no longer in the beam, so it's weaker.

(I knew having a PhD in Physics would come in useful one day )

[Sarin]

Interesting, based on observations then there is no vacuum in Ooniverse, the whole space is filled with very homogenous dust cloud.

Or is it just because the laws of Ooniverse are different?

[Thargoid]

Yup, it's called magic sci-fi dust.

The Star Wars and Star Trek, plus many other, universes are full of it too

[Screet]

Yup, it's called magic sci-fi dust.

The Star Wars and Star Trek, plus many other, universes are full of it too

...and it can even transmit soundwaves which would be impossible in space

Screet

[wackyman465]

If we could make OXP lasers, you would already have been mown down by some pirate PCC with a sniper laser. Always wanted to make one of those.

[Lestradae]

I filed as a bug that setting the weapons energy of a ship doesn't work as intended for ships at BERLIOS (the Oolite developer's site), but it could be that the dev's choose to just not put that feature back in, which would already enable something in that direction.

But then, if they were lobbied a bit by people who really wish for that function, who knows

[Screet]

I filed as a bug that setting the weapons energy of a ship doesn't work as intended for ships at BERLIOS (the Oolite developer's site), but it could be that the dev's choose to just not put that feature back in, which would already enable something in that direction.

But then, if they were lobbied a bit by people who really wish for that function, who knows

I guess that it would be some sort of work to be done for such a thing to work properly, including buying/selling different models, and that they did not see why a ship should have a multiplier (as that multiplier did not suggest to also increase the heat buildup).

I am a bit astonished that noone did respond to my message regarding different laser colours based upon the laser type instead of ship specific laser colours. I do believe that this would be an easy change and enhance things. I cannot understand why the laser change their colors with different ships and different colours for different powers would not only be more logical, but also help to set priorities in combat. I guess this could even work well to show ships with enhanced laser power...

Anyway, I finally have been able to download the code...but still some annoying RL stuff to take care of first. Given that the texture corruption is a problem of the past, I guess the first thing I'll have a look at is a different joystick setup. Instead of a precision toggle, I'd prefer the stick to do very tiny movements around the center, as if that mode would be switched on. That should enhance fighting abilities pretty much, especially in regard to the high-power "sniper" idea. Never done stick support since the C64, though

Screet

[Cmdr Wyvern]

I guess the first thing I'll have a look at is a different joystick setup. Instead of a precision toggle, I'd prefer the stick to do very tiny movements around the center, as if that mode would be switched on. That should enhance fighting abilities pretty much, especially in regard to the high-power "sniper" idea. Never done stick support since the C64, though

Screet

I was gifted an X52 for christmas.
Nevermind the overload of features on it, two things about it are important concerning Oolite.
1) The center drift issue has left the building. This is the only joystick I've ever had that didn't drift slowly all over the place; it centers perfectly.
2) The precision toggle is no longer needed. Verily, the stick is precise enough that I don't need the precision toggle with it. If anything, the precision toggle degrades the joystick's action.

The hall sensors the stick uses may have a lot to do with the above.
Nonetheless, Oolite might benefit from a joystick setup similar to AdAstra, ie the user being able to tune deadzone and response curve from within the game.

Then there's the issue of Oolite not seeing POV hat switches, but that's another problem.

[Cmdr James]

I filed as a bug that setting the weapons energy of a ship doesn't work as intended for ships at BERLIOS (the Oolite developer's site), but it could be that the dev's choose to just not put that feature back in, which would already enable something in that direction.

But then, if they were lobbied a bit by people who really wish for that function, who knows

The thing is, npc use "real" lasers, the same as players. So to have variable powered lasers would require a complete reworking of the way lasers work in the game. If we are going to have variable power, then fully configurable range, power, colour (maybe), name, if it is a mining laser would make sense too, I think.

I would imagine the right way to do it would be to change laser type from an enumeration to be something like the way we do ships. This may also make the shipyard equipment screen kind of full of weapons, but then, it did work in fronteer, so maybe...

It would (I think) be a nice feature, but it is quite a lot of work, and we would have to be very careful to ensure that it is all compatible with the current state of affairs (and ensure meaningful tech levels in some way).

To be honest, what this needs is not lobbying, but rather it needs someone who wants the feature to volunteer to write it.

[Thargoid]

To be honest, what this needs is not lobbying, but rather it needs someone who wants the feature to volunteer to write it.

Not quite sure I agree there, as most of us aren't coders and so cannot do it. That shouldn't be a barrier to us volunteering ideas to make the game we love better though (for items that need trunk work and cannot be done via OXP). It depends how much "democracy" (for want of a better word) is thought best for game improvement. Aside from bug-fixes, should only improvements that interest the coders be the only ones made, or should it be by vote, suggestion box or somesuch.

Before I get flamed, I'm happy to say that at the moment we're fairly much in the latter situation, with improvements being suggested by non-coders and implemented where practical. But that's the "lobbying" (again for want of a better word). That being the main drive of this section of the board of course.

I would say many people would want this kind of customisable weaponry introduced (it's a recurring theme of people wanting to OXP non-missile/mine weaponry). In many cases probably in preference to some improvements that are being worked on.

But to say if you want it you need to learn to code and write it could just lead people to not make suggestions for improvement any more. I can appreciate it can be frustrating at times when suggestions are made that aren't practically possible (or at all possible) or even just a lot of work, but that's no reason to put people down for making them. For every few impossible or impractical suggestions that get made, there are usually at least one or two absolute gems.